Poker enjoys a massive level of participation with hundreds of thousands of players everyday logging into their favourite poker rooms and playing their poker hands. I remember logging on to Ultimate Bet early in 2000 and thinking what a strange way to spend your time playing cards on the Internet. How little did I realise just how much I would enjoy it and so many others in just a few years time! But what makes the game so popular?

The Moneymaker Effect

Turning $40 into $2.5 million is amazing even in today’s poker world but back in 2003 before poker went mainstream it was unheard of. Most people thought poker players were steely nerved gamblers but suddenly an amateur in Chris Moneymaker demonstrated that you could compete with the best players in the world, and win! The introduction of hole card cameras allowed players to watch the professionals and learn a style of play that could win. Players discovered poker at an astonishing rate and the poker boom took off. Poker websites, poker training sites and many books and related poker material hit the market instantly and the tidal wave effect took poker into the mainstream. It has been quite a ride ever since.

The Wow Factor

There is something amazing about watching the top professional poker players fighting it out for pots worth $500,000! There is something very naughty about watching people treat money with such disregard as that contrasts how the majority of us treat money. We also are gripped with following the progress of our favourite players secretly wishing we could do what they do and live the high life. Which we will probably never achieve, but of course every poker player thinks they are good enough to sit among the top players.

Poker Tournament Dreaming

As well as watching the top players play for big money we can also take part. Can you win a fortune at a professional golf event or play football for Man Utd? Unless you are already a professional then no, you cannot. You can buy into any poker tournament or satellite in and take on the best for life changing amounts of money, at any age. Dare to dream because it is possible. Harrison Gimbel is 19 and has just won $2.2 million in one poker tournament. He was staked but a good proportion of that money is his to keep and there is no rule that you must be staked. If you have a chip and a chair you could be the next big winner. That dream keeps poker tournament fields large enough to provide this big wins and who knows, it could be you or me next in line for a massive victory and life changing prizes.

Accessibility and Image

Poker is popular because providing you have a computer and Internet connection you can play anywhere in the world. On holiday next to a swimming pool in your private villa or stuck in your dirty bedroom that really needs a vacuuming are perfect places for online poker. It is easy to play and prizes in online poker can be as crazy as live poker. Poker players are considered cool in today’s society and have a far better street image than, for example, a chess player. Poker players in a group are called “crews”, so that means you are cool if you play poker. We are certainly and most definitely not nerds. 

There are also millions of poker blogs on the Internet that have players posting video, podcasts, live poker radio, hand analysis and poker articles. You have more poker related content online than you could ever read with more being added all the time. Whatever is the main reason poker is so popular in today’s culture it seems there is nothing that can stop its growth.

By Malcolm Clarke